Tag: urban exploration

Night photographer Troy Paiva, who has contributed his work to both Weird Texas and Weird Arizona, e-mailed me recently to let me know he's made a major update to his website Lost America.

"I've just launched the largest update to the lostamerica.com website since I first put the work online in 1999," he says. "Literally, hundreds of new images. Even if you follow my daily postings on Flickr and Facebook, there will be well over 100 new images you haven't seen before."

If you aren't familiar with Troy's work, which depicts the forgotten, decaying side of America by the light of the moon, stars and specially adapted strobes, I highly recommend you head over to Lost America now and take a long look around.

Photographer Andrew Qzmn (just you try pronouncing that) braved last year's Russian winter to visit the town of Chukhloma, where he found breathtaking examples of 19th-century, handcrafted, wooden architecture left abandoned among the trees.

Located about 300 miles northeast of Moscow, the houses, known as Terem, are wonderfully ornate, trimmed heavily in detailed latticework much like the Victorian "gingerbread" houses found in the U.S.

Such elaborately carved homes are evidently scattered all across Russia, slowly succumbing to the elements, though some have been incorporated into open-air museums in an attempt at preservation. Sounds like an idea worthy of adoption here in America, where our urban ruins are instead fenced off and left to the weeds.

Apparently, the Far East is absolutely littered with amusement parks that just didn't fare so well. Left to the elements, their Ferris wheels, coasters and midways have quickly succumbed to the elements, creating magnificently surreal worlds of their own. Dark Roasted Blend, in a third installment to their series on abandoned amusement parks, takes a look at abandoned parks in South Korea, China, Laos and Japan through the photography of the urban explorers lucky enough to visit them. Be sure not to miss the first two parts, as well, linked below.

One of the most intriguing things about urban exploration, at least for me, is the archaeological aspect — discovering the tangible remnants of recent history. I find it fascinating to see things as they once were, even a few short decades ago.

Unfortunately, by the time most of us uncover an urbex site, dozens of vandals have already been there, grabbing up or destroying anything of cultural value.

A man in Lancashire, England, however, has recently hit the jackpot. Developer Alan Duffy, who purchased a building presumably with plans to renovate it, opened the door to his new property and discovered an outdated corner shop and ice-cream parlor that closed about 40 years ago with products still on the shelves, which have laid untouched ever since.

Such English corner shops were the convenience stores of their time, offering a small selection of cigarettes, sweets, medicines and other sundry items. Among those discovered in Duffy's shop are kidney pills, old chocolates, something called "dulcet cream" and a 1971 issue of Titbits magazine. Lying on a counter was also an old invoice dated to 1927. ... Continued